KINGSTON, N.Y. -- Fire Chief John Reinhardt, as he did 15 years ago, is pushing city officials to buy a new $900,000 ladder truck for his department.

Reinhardt appeared before the Common Council's Finance/Economic Development Committee Tuesday night and told the panel the city "should seriously" consider including the truck purchase in its capital plan.

The purchase is not part of a capital plan Mayor Shayne Gallo submitted to the committee.

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Reinhardt said the 15-year-old ladder truck the department now uses has outlived its usefulness. This year alone, he said, the truck has been taken out of service twice for repairs, with no backup ladder truck available.

The committee took no action on the chief's request, but Reinhardt said he would continue his push to include the truck purchase in the city's capital plan.

In the late 1990s, Reinhardt fought hard to have the city buy the current truck, which was delivered in 1998. At the time, Reinhardt feuded with then-Mayor T.R. Gallo, the current mayor's late brother, over the purchase.

Reinhardt also told the Finance/Economic Development Committee on Tuesday that the fire department's Building Safety Division is in need of vehicles for building inspectors. During budget negotiations with the mayor, Reinhardt requested $50,000 for the purchase of three used vehicles.

Gallo did include $33,000 in the capital plan for an emergency response vehicle for the fire department. At present, Reinhardt said, the department uses a 10-year-old emergency response vehicle and a 20-year-old vehicle as a backup.

Reinhardt said his request for the building inspectors' cars was never included in Gallo's budget proposal. The fire chief said he is hopeful the request will be restored.

The chief said there are five vehicles in the Building Safety Division's fleet. Of those, only two are operable, he said.

"The vehicles we are driving are junk," Reinhardt told the committee.

Kingston resident Bernie Matthews, who frequently attends Common Council meetings and has extensively researched fire department history, said that with new laws adopted by the Common Council, such as the Tenant Accountability Act, inspectors need working vehicles to carry out enforcement tasks.